Long wait

It has been seven long years since Rob Jones of Columbia, SC has harvested a notable “wall hanger” trophy buck worthy of consideration for the state record book but sometimes the prize is worth the wait.

It was in the October 2012 issue of South Carolina Sportsman that he was last featured in a story titled “Tiny lease produces 150-inch 11 pointer” where he took a 215 lb 11 point in Four Holes Swamp in Orangeburg county.
He has taken several respectable bucks since then but the trophy “wall hangers” have been hard to come by.
That is until this past “black Friday” morning when he took this mature 170lb 10 point at the Wateree Buck Club in Fairfield county.
The buck had a respectable 17” inside and 22” outside spread.

Ricky Inman owner of “Wildside Taxidermy” a fellow WBC club member scored the deer at 131” overall.
He was happy for Rob’s good fortune and had to help him retrieve the prize from a very large creek bed in an almost inaccessible hardwood valley.
It was a little bittersweet for Inman however as he had been pursuing the same buck hard for the last couple of weeks in same general vicinity until a logger had moved in the area earlier in the week apparently forcing the big boy to adjust his travel routes!

Jim Simmonds, (Rob’s Father in law), is co- owner of ” SC Farm Garden Wildlife” a feed and seed store in Winnsboro and he is also the “president / huntmaster” at WBC. He has developed and implemented a substantial food plot / quality management program at the club which is paying off in a big way this season as they have harvested more management legal bucks this year than in past club history.

It took every bit of two hours for Jones to find his trophy after shooting , (while sweating it out the entire time), climbing the major hills and valleys along the creek bed searching but it was well worth the effort!
Hopefully it won’t be as long a wait for his next “wall hanger”